Saving Friendships, Healing America

I NEEDED TO VISIT MY FRIEND. We,ve been good friends for thirty five years, and I hadn't seen him since before the election, and he's a big time Trumper. difficult situation, to say the least.  We talked for about half an hour,, and it was going great, when suddenly he started talking politics out of the blue, raising his voice. Bad idea. Very bad idea. It didn't go well, but I salvaged the situation, and the friendship, with tact. He said that in Arizona, "they" (Democrats?) won't let anybody see the ballots. That's all he wanted, to see the ballots. Facts which disprove this idiotic argument are too numerous to mention here, so I didn't even try to name one, tactfully. why bother? It is amazing how many millions of Americans have allowed themselves to become possessed by delusions, by false facts, lies. An alarming level of mass denial of reality. My friend also said, in essence, that Barack Obama invented racism, that it had either been eliminated or was under control or was "no problem" - I can't remember which, but all absurd - when Obama took office, and Obama resurrected racism. Why bother mentioning that it was tens of millions of right wing racist rednecks, and their reaction to Obama's election, which "brought back" racism. Ideas and beliefs like this clearly indicate the serious level of delusion and mental illness under Trump supporters, in their deep, dark disappointment and grief. Multiple delusions, shared by tens of millions of temporarily, we hope, mentally ill folks.White Christian conservative support of Trump clearly reveals their racism,  their hatred of Obama is more proof, while they deny it, of course, and blame it on the liberals, for talking about it. My friend, alas, is  a perfect example of suppressed racism, and transferring blame for racism to liberals. These people seem to have neither shame, class, nor intelligence. Knowing that my good friend the right winger has them frustrates me all the more. I have suggested to him that we simply not talk politics, and I obviously need to remind him that it is sufficient to simply accept our differences, and not discuss them. I might suggest that he stop ambushing me with politics in order to start an argument with me. That might work well for millions of American friendships. somewhere, somehow, however, we as a nation must discuss politics, for we the people supposedly govern this country. I asked my friend how much longer it will even matter whether the election was stolen.Will it still matter when Biden is out of office, and both he and Trump, and many of the rest of us, are dead? It helps, I think, to make right wingers answer specific questions, and for us progressives to be willing to do the same. What are their solutions to climate change? How would they have reacted if Obama had done exactly the same thing Trump did? I told him there was nothing poor Mike Pence could have done to reverse the election on January 6, and he refused to believe me.How do you deal with that, other than to ignore it?